Last Wednesday, after attending an appointment in Haven Delight to discuss on our future collaboration with a business acquaintance, I decided to visit a ex-colleague who has set-up an eatery with her husband in Times Square.  The place that we went to is Golden J&C Express Cafe. It looks like your typical fast food joint but I was told the food they served is home-cook. Their specialties are their Steam Milk, Portuguese Tarts and Herb Chicken, which we had for he first time during our stop-by.

The menu or the offerings are not very long, they serve up hassle free dishes that are fast and easy to have during short breaks or during meal-cum-discussion occasions. Another great thing is that our friends who need Halal food can also join us because the ingredients used are Pork Free and the chicken is source from Halal suppliers. The pricing was of the dishes or food is also very reasonable when in comparison with portion and location.

Another thing to look forward in future from this place is that they are planning to open till late night when there are football matches on the tele.

Back to the food! We had their cold Steam Milk, Portuguese Egg Tarts, Herb’s baked 1/4 Chicken with Fried Rice, and Herb’s Baked Chicken with their special dry “pan mee”. All these only set us back by RM 22.30, which to some may think is a lot to pay for. But the portion can speak for its self.

The Portuguese tart that we had is of their own recipe, and that is why they named it the “Rocky Portuguese Tart”. The usual tart pastry would be some sort of puffed pastry, but at J&C their pastry is of short crust pastry. The pastry crumbles in your mouth, and thus slightly more fragile from the puff pastry. The sandy coarse texture of the short crust pastry was quite a compliment to the silky smooth custard filling. The custard filling was not as fragrant as the ones found at other pastry shops though. The reason she gave was that to make it more fragrant, more sugar and egg would need to be added which is not that suitable for those healthy conscious persons. Their healthier version and lighter tasting tarts, also encourages one person to be able take in more without feeling overwhelm by the richness of the tarts.

It would be more suitable to take their “Steam Milk” before eating their tarts or any heavier tasting food. That is why initially we thought the steam milk tasted weird. The steam milk was smooth and not too creamy. Nice to have after a heavy meal to refresh taste buds in our hard-working mouth.

After having those light snacks that they offer, we were persuaded to further our experience by trying their meals. We had their Herb’s Chicken base meals. I had their fried rice version and Gill had their special dry “pan mee”.

For RM 7.40, the Herb’s Chicken and Fried rice came with a standard bowl of “fried rice” and quite a big piece of whole chicken leg. The chicken was slightly off tender, but it was big. The chicken was full of the fragrant and taste of the distinctive Rosemary. Rosemary is a good companion to chicken, especially those roast, grill and pan grilled version. When there is an opportunity, I would share a recipe and tip of making rosemary base roast chicken is tender and yet crisp on the skin.

The Herb’s Chicken with dry noodle came at RM7.90 per serving. The chicken breast that came with this meal was a bit dry, and the taste was more orientalise with some soy. The distinctive rosemary taste was overwhelmed by the soy. But the noodle was exceptionally smooth and silky, although it is  a type “pan mee” which usually has some texture to it.  The noodle was a comfort to this meal, but a slighter hand on the sesame seed oil seasoning would be better on my point of taste.

On average, I would rate Golden J&C Express Cafe:

* 3.9/5 for value (the chicken portion was quite something to look forward for)
* 3.8/5 for taste & texture (chicken was a bit dry)
* 3.5/5 for service (average)
* 3.5/5 for cleanliness (new)
* 3.5/5 for atmosphere (cold due to the central air-conditioning and lack of human movement)

Address : 77-L 1-44 & 77-L 1-45, 1st Floor, Penang Time Square, Penang.

Tel : 04-226 7988

Business Hours : Daily from 10am to 10pm.

I have received this “The 44 Places To Go in 2009″ email months ago. And i have decided to share this here, hopefully we can contribute our effort to Penang tourism and society

Guys, please give your vote to PENANG if you think its deserve the Title among the “candidates”!

Here are the several blog’s posted link for your references:

New York Times Magazine

NY Times listed Penang as one of the 44 places to go in 2009 - by lilian Chan

Penang voted a Food Haven by New York Times Readers - by friedchillies.com

Penang Is Voted 2nd By New York Times Readers in “The 44 Places To Go in 2009″ - by yowazzup.com

Penang Ranked 2nd in New York Times Best Places To Go in 2009 - by chenchow.blogspot.com

Days back while driving through the Jelutong Express-way, we noticed a typical looking Malay eating outlet beside the ramp just after the old land fill area along the express-way. As we just finish the eLawyer seminar at USM and had no plans of where to have lunch, we decided to try out the Malay eating outlet that we saw previously. When coming from the Georgetown area, just keep to the left after the Jelutong xpress-way Shell petrol station. The “makan” area is just after the old land fill. But if you are driving from the Bayan Lepas direction, after Tesco stay to the left and turn right at the first traffic lights and you will see the “makan” area.

The name of the stall is “Ani Nasi Campur Gulai Sembilang”, and it is housed in the “Balai Nelayan Jelutong”. The stall open’s for business daily except Sunday and their business hours are from 11:30am onwards until everything is gone from their trays. It literally closes after all their dishes are all sold out, and would just take about 2 to 3 hours. We were there some where near to 2:00pm and everything was all sold out except for some beef, squid, and some fish curries.

And thus, that is what we had for lunch that faithfull Saturday. 2 plates of white rice, 1 nasi tambah, 1 curry sembilang head, 1 piece of curry ikan pari  , 3 pieces of beef and some chilli squid. And the total demage is RM 17.00.

The chilli squid or “sotong pedas” was slightly chewy and over firm, but the taste was quite appetising with some sourness and heat. This dish almost taste like “sotong sambal”. With the gravy in toe, one could finish the whole plate of rice without anything else.

The beef that we had I guess was some sort of rendang or stewed beef. Anyway, it was tender and flavourful. The beef chunks that we had been moisten with a distinctive sardine like taste gravy with just the right amount of spice to bring out the beefy flavour. The heat in the chilli and spice did not overwhelm the sweet and affirmative taste of the beef chunks. The usage of curry leaves in this dish was also something that we do not see everyday at Malay “makan” stalls.

The “Ikan Pari” or stingray curry had some hint of “balacan” or fermented shrimp paste in it. The taste is of this dish is quite light but the gravy was creamy. It is a dish that I would not miss if the run out of stock on my next visit there.

Next on the table was the “Gulai Sembilang”, which is actually our local catfish cooked in their special “gulai” or curry. The gulai was light, sweet and full of fragrant of spices. As the gulai is light, it did not go well with white rice alone; one would need to mixed it with other heavier tasting gravies. But to enjoy it like one would do with soups would be a better way to enjoy the flavour the sembilang gulai has to offer. As for the sembilang fish head, it was creamy or “lemak” especially with those entire soft cartridge like flesh encasing the skull of the fish head. The mixture of spices used in the gulai was well balanced to rid the sembilang of any unappetising taste but yet left that sweet taste of fish still intact in the dish.   No wonder Ani is famous for their “gulai sembilang”!

On average, I would rate Ani Nasi Campur Gulai Sembilang:

* 3.8/5 for value (RM17 is a bit high just for 3 chunks of beef, scoops of squid, 1 piece of stingray meat and 1 catfish head)
* 3.9/5 for taste & texture (love the beef and catfish)
* 3.4/5 for service (not attentive when first approach the stall)
* 3.0/5 for cleanliness(by the sea and at make shift area, not much can be expected)
* 3.0/5 for atmosphere (a bit hot on sunny days)

Address : Balai Nelayan Jelutong, Jelutong Express-way, Penang.

Tel : 016-4584229 (Ani)

Business Hours : 11.30am - ?pm. Closed on Sundays.

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